


untitled

by NicoleAnell



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-08
Updated: 2011-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-14 13:43:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/149791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicoleAnell/pseuds/NicoleAnell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing scene set after miniseries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	untitled

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladymercury_10](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ladymercury_10).



Starbuck is alive. She's more than alive, since he's known her and longer. The cockpit reflexes that make other jocks talk about her like a god, the room-piercing laughter at any post-mission party, her eyes alight with guilt and defiance all at once the night he held her hair in the back of some bar. She vibrates with a kind of energy that makes everything seem more vivid, more honest, and here at the end of the world Lee feels it more than ever.

"I thought I was gonna die out there," he confesses to her, meaning just twenty minutes ago when she crashed her Viper into his. He thinks it will take some power out of the words to say them aloud, help him collect his thoughts without being pulled under by their weight. It doesn't work. If he tries to broach the subject of her saving his life again, she'll cut him off with a mock-tough _you're welcome_ or _won't be the last time_ , or just shrug it off like she's irritated or amused he's still going on about this.

Instead she coughs on a drink and says, "We're all gonna die out there, Lee," so matter-of-factly it feels like a bullet in his heart. It's not that he wasn't ready, like he was in any kind of denial, but the comfort she has with this will never stop unsettling him. "It's not about us now," she says. He knows this is true. But it feels so defeating to think she'll ever be just a story, if they're lucky.

"Then why'd you even...?" he knows it's an idiotic thing to say before he even finishes the question.

 _"Please,"_ she groans, like she's almost offended, staring him down with an incredulous look. Then something just as intense but softer, and he hears the smallest waver in her voice. "Lee, when I saw you on that deck, you have no idea. They told me you-" she shakes the thought away. "I... _prayed_ , for frak's sake." She's staring at the wall, keeping him tentatively in her vision. He doesn't believe in the gods or miracles, he's not even sure he believes in Earth, but Starbuck is alive and that alone makes him feel less hopeless by the minute. He needs to hold her hand just then, and she doesn't pull away, though she does raise an eyebrow at him and smile with all her teeth, sliding quickly out of any maudlin crap. She clears her throat and says, "You're not taking off on me yet, okay?" and it's the single last thing on his mind.


End file.
